The Moments Before Sleep
by pagerunner
Summary: After the events of episode 35, Cecil goes to catch up with Carlos for that nap. And a few other things. Spoilers through that episode.


Carlos was already half asleep when Cecil arrived: shower-fresh and lazily tousled, dressed only in his boxers, and sprawled atop the bed beside his open window. His tablet computer sat on the side table, where any number of pre-set alarms - the latest one reading _check that the scorpions haven't stolen the TV remote again - _were being ignored. He'd decided to try to let all that go for a while. Instead, he just relaxed, enjoying the breeze that had stirred back to life when the rest of the city did. And when his front door opened and carefully shut again, Carlos didn't even stir.

A smile, though, touched his lips when a flicker of light and shadow moved beyond his closed eyelids, and an unmistakable voice rose to greet him.

"Hello, Carlos," Cecil said warmly. "Busy day, I see."

Carlos blinked his eyes open, yawning. "Wasn't so sure about yours, lazybones."

Cecil took in the display of Carlos gone all indolent in bed. "Lazybones," he said, amused. "So it's _irony day, _then."

"I think…I'm too tired to figure out if it's actually irony." Carlos patted the mattress beside him. "C'mere."

Cecil grinned, at once the picture of boundless enthusiasm and something much more sly. For a moment, there was also a glint in his eyes, something Carlos was too tired to put a finger on, that seemed a little bit strange. Still, it quickly faded. He undid his tie, loosened several shirt buttons and wriggled out of his trousers, while Carlos watched with sleepy appreciation. It was a comfortable-looking Cecil who joined him a moment later, leaning over to kiss him gently, but very thoroughly.

"I really was going to sleep, you know," said Carlos, once they paused to breathe. "Not to disappoint you, but…"

Cecil stopped him with a finger pressed to his lips. "That's all right. No expectations. You rest easy. Just relax."

Cecil's voice, even if it was brighter than usual, hadn't lost its hypnotic qualities. Carlos hummed his contentment and leaned again into the pillows, enjoying the gentle, stroking pressure of Cecil's hand over his shoulder and arm. "So everyone really is okay after the…thing, today?" Carlos asked.

Cecil nodded against his other shoulder. "Mm-hmm."

"Good. I meant to get pictures for study," Carlos said, sleepily meandering. "But my equipment's not really up to sun photography. Not since my good camera melted when I brought it to that one weird spot in the sand wastes-"

"Carlos," Cecil said gently.

"-which is worrying. But at least if no one's really hurt, then…"

Cecil leaned forward and pressed another kiss to Carlos' jawline. Slower this time. Sweeter. "It's all right. We got through it. Let's just enjoy the quiet together."

Something about the last word resonated. Carlos lifted one hand, touching Cecil's chest. "You signed off early to be here, didn't you?" Cecil nodded. "You keep doing that, you're going to get in trouble, you know."

"Oh, dear Carlos. Stop thinking so much. Enjoy the moment."

Carlos gave him a sideways smile. "I didn't say I wasn't glad, did I?"

Cecil took that in, his eyes going wider, and then kissed him soundly. When that ended, he curled up even closer, their bare legs tangling. It felt cozy in this cooler air. Comfortable. Intimate. Especially with the way Cecil kept _trying _to lie still, but then he'd press another kiss against Carlos' shoulder, or stroke his fingers lazily up and down his arm again, and all the while he kept murmuring softly, his voice a reassuring constant.

Eventually Carlos stopped even registering the meaning of the words, even though he suspected he should be listening. He just felt the low, warm thrum of it, spoken in that tone Cecil reserved just for him. Carlos' eyes drifted shut as he drank it all in, and didn't open them again until he realized Cecil had shifted. He felt the brush of fabric over his thighs, and the warmth of Cecil's skin pressed against his.

Drowsily, he said, "Cecil. Are you…" He looked up to see Cecil kneeling over him. "Um. Hi."

Cecil let out a little laugh. His eyes were hooded now. "You look amazing like this, you know."

"I look like I've got bed head. Probably."

He waved one hand toward the mirror, which he'd covered a few weeks ago for Cecil's benefit. Cecil's smile turned strangely wistful. Then he caught Carlos' hand and held it a while, stroking one thumb across his skin. He was considering Carlos in a way that somehow read as shy and sensual all at once.

"Could I do one thing for you, before you sleep?" he asked.

Carlos' eyebrows raised. Cecil didn't exactly reply. He just let go and slowly scooted further down the bed. Even half-awake, Carlos could interpret _that_. "Oh," he breathed. He thought briefly, fuzzily, of telling Cecil that he didn't need to - unless he _wanted _to, of course, and that look on his face certainly suggested he did. It suggested all _sorts _of possibilities, actually.

"Oh," he repeated, his voice going rougher.

Cecil took that as a prompt. He braced his hands warmly on Carlos' hips, and his thumbs slid toward the center. Carlos couldn't help but respond. Sleepy he might still have been, but that wasn't stopping a warm flush of pleasure from radiating through him.

"Well," Carlos said at last. "I guess I can stay up…for one more thing."

"Oh, I bet you can."

"Very funny," Carlos mumbled, before ending on a low groan. Cecil had just hooked his fingers underneath the elastic and tugged the boxers down, and then slowly moved to touch him.

"_There_," Cecil said. He had to catch his own breath before saying anything else; he was trembling at the feel of Carlos hardening in his hands. But then he steadied, and began to stroke gently. "Does that feel all right?"

He swallowed hard. _All right _was amazingly insufficient. "You have _no_ idea."

Cecil smiled. One hand kept moving around him while the other slid up the crease between thigh and torso, holding Carlos still when his hips began to get restless. "Easy," he said. "Let's take it slow."

Something in his head threatened to short out. "Slow…?"

"Yes. Because you were so busy. So _industrious. _And I want you to have your day. Your lovely, lazy, perfect day." His fingertips traced up the underside of Carlos' cock, making his blood throb and his head spin. "Just…let me take care of you."

That feeling of melting pleasure redoubled. Carlos reached for Cecil, wanting to repay it in kind, but before he got there, Cecil bent his head. There was a moment of nuzzling contact that made Carlos gasp; Cecil, though, still held him steady. "Carlos," he said - and _God, _that voice. Carlos stared back, utterly captivated. "You're all right. Just relax."

"It's a little hard," he said, doing his best to breathe evenly, "when you're-" Cecil squeezed. Carlos laughed, one hand to his forehead. "My point exactly."

Cecil chuckled. "Just relax," he repeated, smiling. His eyes glinted again. "Relax, Carlos. Listen. Watch." His voice hitched, and something in the sentence went a little sideways. "Believe in…"

Carlos felt an odd thrill. _Believe in what? _he thought, and then, jarringly, _remembered. _That had sounded just like…those slogans...

But Cecil shook himself slightly. When he spoke again, the words were rich and full and perfectly him, and the tone was as spine-meltingly erotic as anything Carlos had ever heard.

"Just trust me," Cecil murmured.

His sudden worry bled away, because there wasn't any possible answer to _that_ except for, "Oh, yes."

Cecil's next touch wasn't from his fingers at all. Carlos squeezed his eyes shut and arched back against the pillows when Cecil's lips slid over him.

Moments before, he'd been lost in Cecil's voice. Now, Carlos' whole world narrowed to the physical pleasures of wet heat and pressure and Cecil's clever tongue. Cecil was working Carlos over with incredible thoroughness; he wasn't hurrying, and yet none of it felt like a tease. It was just…enveloping, and overwhelming, and so, so good.

For a while Carlos just let it build. Every sensation was low and dark and deep this time, and he could feel shivers of what was coming - like an underground explosion, a miles-deep earthquake, something to make the whole world shudder. He breathed in deep, listening to Cecil doing the same. It was a much more labored counterpoint: harsh breaths through the nose, a release and gasp, and then silence as he sank back down around Carlos. Silence, that was, except for a sudden, reverberating moan.

At that, Carlos' toes curled and his whole body tensed. Carlos tangled one hand in Cecil's hair, trying to guide him but really just needing to hang on to something, because he was suddenly, keenly aware that they weren't going to be able to go slowly for long. Not with the way he could feel himself tightening, feel his own blood throb against Cecil's tongue. And not with the way Cecil was moving - because one hand had drifted low and his shoulder was urgently shifting, and _oh, God, _Carlos realized; _he's touching himself…_

"Cecil," he groaned, around a sudden, almost painful flare of need. "Oh, _fuck, _Cecil, I'm-"

Cecil flashed a look up at him, his eyes unfathomable. Then he took Carlos in as deeply as he could, and Carlos came almost instantly, in a helpless, uncontrollable rush. Cecil moaned around Carlos' sudden thrust, his muscles quivering, but he took in as much as he could, swallowing over and over. He only slid back for a gasp of air when Carlos had blinked away enough of the explosion to see again, and maybe even think a little bit again, and remember, guiltily, to release his clutching fingers.

And he almost lost it all over again just to see Cecil rise back up to his knees.

Cecil was trembling all over. His half-undone shirt was rumpled to bits, and it wasn't doing much to disguise the fact that he was still hard. But even with that distraction, all Carlos could really focus on was his face: slack-jawed and debauched, with a single, pale rivulet running down his chin. Carlos made a strangled little sound. Cecil wiped his jaw with the back of his hand, heaving in breaths as he did, and only slowly did he look back down.

After seeing the results of what he'd done, he smirked_. _

That was all it took for Carlos to reach for him. He pulled Cecil into a messy, bitter, incrediblekiss, one that went on and on while they moaned and tangled tongues and touched each other all over, and while Cecil, who'd yanked his shirt out of the way so skin could meet hot skin, rocked against Carlos ever harder and faster. Carlos grabbed at him to urge him on. "Come on," Carlos whispered. "Come on, Cecil, come for me…"

He did moments later, on an almost voiceless cry. Carlos held him through the shudders and the aftershocks, marveling at how hard the orgasm took him. Then, once things started to calm, he gathered Cecil in more gently. This time, he was the one murmuring reassurances. They finally began losing the tension in their limbs and just began leaning against each other for support. And for a while after that, it was quiet.

"I'm going," Carlos murmured eventually, "to have to take another shower, aren't I…?"

Cecil laughed low in his throat. The sound was hoarse but honest. Eventually he pulled back enough to clumsily wrestle off his shirt, and he used one corner of the cloth to wipe off the worst of the mess. "It'll do for now," he said, and _God, _his voice was rough - but also almost unbearably sexy. Carlos felt another tingle of sensation low in his gut. "We can take a shower after we wake up."

"Hmm." Carlos helped gather up the ruined shirt and toss it aside. "You mean together?"

Cecil let those words linger for a second before smirking again. Carlos laughed his way into a yawn. "Has potential," he said on the exhale.

Cecil reached up to stroke his hair back. His expression was tender again, and the touch was so warm and fond that Carlos almost didn't feel the tiny tremor in his fingers. When he did, though, he had to wonder.

"You all right?" he said softly.

Cecil blushed and looked aside, rubbing absently at his jaw. "Strange day," he admitted. "_Everything's _a little strange, lately."

Carlos laughed wearily. "Just lately?"

He smiled crookedly. "I know. But being here, with you…"

The pause lingered. Carlos gave him a nudge, and Cecil, almost sheepishly, finished the thought. "I believe it'll be all right, with you," he said.

Carlos breathed in deep. Then he took Cecil's hand and squeezed it tight. No matter what he feared Cecil was getting told to believe these days, by the city or the new management or by forces even worse, _that _statement had sounded utterly and completely true.

To Cecil's evident pleasure, he whispered, "I think so, too."

After that, he stayed awake long enough to watch Cecil settle in to stay. And in that moment, Cecil looked as if he felt exactly as Carlos did - as much at ease as anyone ever could be in Night Vale, and utterly, entirely at home.


End file.
